Home Goods for Mindful Living

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in arts and craft but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Rebecca Graves Prowse, artist, and owner of Gravesco Pottery, located in Indianapolis, IN, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Handmade pottery + home goods for mindful living. At Gravesco Pottery, we strongly believe that intentional choices lead to a rich life full of only the people and things you love. We embrace the joy of downtime, beautiful textures, handmade art, and a favorite mug you reach for every single day. Whether you call it hygge or chilling, we want you to love the home you live in.

Our absolute favorite thing to do is make pottery that you'll use every day. Every single thing we make truly is from our hands to yours, and we hope you enjoy using our pottery as much as we enjoy making it.

Tell us about yourself

I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and making things is in my DNA. I started my first business at 14, doing graphic design and illustrations. It wasn't until I was almost 40 that I left the corporate world, though, and stumbled into the clay studio completely by accident. Asking a potter friend to make buttons for some sweaters I was knitting turned into "make them yourself," which began my love affair with clay. A year later, I met another potter who invited me to spend a week in his studio trading skills and ideas - he would show me pottery techniques. I would show him some graphic design and marketing techniques in the digital world. The rest is a really fun history!

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Taking the leap is my absolute biggest accomplishment as a business owner. I had a small studio in the back of my quiet little lake cottage. My husband asked for a transfer to Indianapolis, Indiana. We moved to the city, and I found a studio downtown, an apartment downtown, and dove into turning this one-woman show into a business that would sustain other potters and us doing what we love. Four years later and we have a team of 12, nearly 5000 square feet of studio space, and ship pottery all over the world. Hands down, my biggest accomplishment was taking that leap and going all in.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is recognizing that something needs to be let go to restore a healthy work and life balance. I'm constantly assessing and reassessing "is this working?" and if it isn't, what would make this better? If something is working, I am constantly asking myself, "What would make this even better?"

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Set up systems at the beginning when it is just you so that when you do grow, those systems are in place to teach someone else. For me, it was as simple as managing inventory with a google form and a calendar reminder every Thursday. Now it's just routine, and handing it off to someone else is a breeze.
The customer is NOT always right. When you run your business in your integrity and have a less than desirable customer experience, it's ok to say no or end the relationship. Don't try to please everyone. You just end up running yourself ragged. No is a perfectly acceptable response to customer requests that don't feel good for you.
If you do custom orders, refer to #1 and come up with a system! That was the worst for me when I started - it's so easy to blink, and suddenly three weeks have gone by, and all of a sudden, custom orders are overwhelming. Also, if you grow to the point that custom orders don't work, it's ok not to do them anymore.

I have found that having a "backup plan" is a reason to procrastinate or put off the big risks that have big payoffs. When I became a potter, I ditched virtually everything. It was a rough go for a couple of years and sometimes still gets a little hairy when we're scaling the business in a big way, but if I'd had a day job, this would still just be a hobby. I plan long-term, but I'm ready to pivot on a dime if that's what is needed to keep things working. Most importantly, I'm learning to embrace the word NO and the joy of missing out on high-maintenance projects. Asking myself, "does this bring me joy? or satisfaction?" has been one of the best practices in business planning. If the answer is no, figure out how to say no to those things and spend your time doing the things that make you say HELL YES!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://gravescopottery.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gravescopottery
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravesco/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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